


Puppy Love

by waxbirds



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter/Funhaus RPF
Genre: F/M, Reader-Insert
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-13
Updated: 2013-09-13
Packaged: 2018-10-28 13:38:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10832391
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/waxbirds/pseuds/waxbirds
Summary: Joel tests the limits of your abilities to act like a normal person who doesn’t have a crush around him when he decides your puppy is going to be his new friend.





	Puppy Love

It had been a bit weird for Burnie to invite you to join them on the podcast livestream. It had really come out of the blue, as well. You had just been sitting at your desk, browsing Reddit in your downtime between when you finished an assignment and when the next one was emailed to you. Life as an editor, while fun, could sometimes also be incredibly boring. You had taken to browsing the internet in your downtime, and when Burnie called your name from across the studio, you panicked (as you were probably supposed to be working on  _something_ ) and quickly shut your window.

“Hi Burnie,” you greeted as he approached your desk, flashing him a smile. “What’s up?”

“Are you doing anything important tonight after you’re done for the day?” he asked. “If not, would you maybe be interested in joining the podcast livestream for the night?” You chuckled a little, running your hand through your hair.

“Damn, things must be bad if you’re calling in fourth string,” you said, amusement evident in your voice. Burnie laughed too, but shook his head.

“You’re third string, actually (Y/N),” he pointed out. “If I was calling in fourth string, I’d be asking JJ.” A frown flashed across your face for a brief moment. JJ was more of a fan favorite as of late, and it was honestly a bit weird Burnie hadn’t asked him. Then again, he probably had and JJ probably said no.

“Well, I can do it,” you told him confidently. You bent down to reach under your desk, scooping up the almost three month old husky puppy that had been asleep on your feet. “As long as my little buddy here doesn’t mind that his walk is going to be a little late.” Your dog blinked up at you sleepily before nipping at your finger what you had assumed to be affectionately, and trying to get comfortable against your upper body to go back to sleep.

“I think he’ll be okay,” Burnie reassured, reaching out to scratch him behind the ears. The dog didn’t seem to mind as he did, which you were grateful for. He was too young to leave alone and you lived by yourself, so bringing your new pet into work had been the only option in your mind. No one in the office seemed to mind as long as he didn’t cause too much trouble, which he hadn’t seemed to yet. He spent a lot of time curled up on your bare feet under your desk and wasn’t generally very loud, so he was allowed to stay.

“Then I’ll be there,” you declared, nodding once. “Who else is going to be?”

“Me, Gavin, you and Joel,” he rattled off, still apparently intent on scratching behind the dog’s ears. Your heart skipped a beat when Joel’s name was mentioned, and you sat up a little bit straighter. You had a thing for him, there wasn’t any denying it, but the way the work was divided up, you hadn’t had much time to spend with him when the staff didn’t go out to a bar or a barbeque at someone’s house. That, you felt, made you feel even dumber for the stupid crush you were clearly too old to have. It was a grade school thing, and you were an adult. It was weird to you. Yet, there it was and there wasn’t much you could do about it.

Once Burnie was content with the affection he had shown your dog, he told you when to show up for the podcast and left. You sighed to yourself once he had left, looking down at the husky, who was now soundly asleep against your chest. It was going to take some mental preparation to not make an ass of yourself during the podcast tonight, especially with Joel around. You were really good at doing that, and while you usually chalked it up to the drinking, you knew better. Joel made you feel like you were sixteen again and you hated him for it.

Still, it had to go away sooner or later. At least that’s what you hoped.

______

You hadn’t wanted to sit on the couch with him. It was the absolute last thing you wanted to do, but because you had gotten a little tied up with a phone call from your mother, who wanted to know how that weirdo job in Texas was going (your mother never really understood what you did, not even in your college days) and when you were going to come home, you had been later to the podcast than you hoped to be.

Still on time, sure, but late enough that you had no other choice than sit next to stupid Joel on the stupid couch. Gavin had taken the seat on the left, and Burnie was in his usual spot on the right, which left you and Joel to sit on the couch. You had perched yourself on the side nearest Gavin, turning your body slightly away from where Joel would be. You had decided that the avoidance approach would be the best option.

“So, how’s your mum?” teased Gavin, who knew you had just been on the phone with her as he had stopped over by your desk to see your dog. Everyone tended to gravitate towards the little guy, and you could completely understand why. The little furball was the cutest thing in the office. Still, Gav had sat on the floor near your desk, playing with him and making stupid faces at you that made you laugh at pretty inappropriate times.

“She’s still wondering when I’m coming home,” you sighed, shaking your head. “It’s only been, what…” you trailed off, “Six months?”

“Still not too soon to back out,” he offered, shrugging. The two of you laughed, and you shook your head.

“Trust me, I think about it every day,” you joked, making a face that showed otherwise.

“Think about what?” A weight fell upon the couch, and you knew that Joel had just sat down without even looking.

You took a deep breath, exhaling slowly. This was it. You’d avoid looking at him unless you had to do and you’d only speak to him if he asked you something first and this would be a good test run. You glanced over at him and even that was enough for your resolve to leave you. You sat up a little bit straighter, a dumb smile spreading across your face and Joel smiled back at you.

 _That asshole_ , you thought to yourself,  _how dare he_.

“Boning you, obviously,” Gavin answered and you blushed in spite of yourself, looking away from Joel quickly to glare at Gavin, who only burst into a fit of laughter. You opened your mouth to retaliate but was cut off by a mic getting shoved at you and finding out there was only five minutes until the podcast. You took it happily, glad to have a distraction from that conversation and the fact you were sitting next to Joel and blushing like a thirteen year old who had just gotten a ‘do you like me, check yes or no’ note from her crush.

Before you knew it, the podcast had started and it was going well. It was working out in a way that Joel didn’t really address you directly, and if you had anything to add to what he was talking about, you waited until someone else had first. It had been so easy for you to get wrapped up into a conversation with Gavin over something so incredibly stupid that you hadn’t noticed that someone had shooed your puppy towards the set. He had come up to you, looking up at you expectantly for affection but when you didn’t bend down to scoop him up, Joel had.

You stopped midsentence as Joel’s hand brushed against your ankle, and even though you hadn’t wanted to, you looked over at him. He had the husky tucked under one of his arms and perched on his lap and he had a big smile on his face.

“So, is this who I’ve been hearing so much about?” he asked, readjusting every time the dog did to make sure he wouldn’t go running off. “Who’s dog is this anyway?”

“Mine,” you said quickly, reaching over to take him from Joel. However, when the dog let out a high pitched bark, you withdrew. Apparently, he was comfortable with Joel and when he curled up on his lap, his head resting against Joel’s stomach, you couldn’t help but ‘aww’ quietly. Joel began to scratch him, first behind the ears and then on his back and you couldn’t help but smile at the sight. Anyone who was good with animals made your heart happy as you loved animals so much yourself, but to see Joel with your dog? It was almost too much for your heart to handle.

“What’s his name?”

“Renly,” you said, eyes still locked on what was going on next to you.

“Like everyone’s favorite murdered heir to the Iron Throne?” asked Gavin. You shrugged.

“I don’t think your wording is quite right, as he wasn’t the heir. In all technicalities, he had no claim to the Iron Throne. It should have been Stannis, as much as it pains me to say it,” you said, looking to Gavin for a second before looking back to your dog, who seemed quite pleased with his situation right now. “But yes, as in the Game of Thrones character.”

From there, the podcast had been derailed into stories about Renly, both the character and the dog. No matter how hard you tried, you couldn’t help yourself from looking over at Joel, smiling stupidly as he just continued to dote upon the puppy in his lap. It was like he was doing this to test you. Every time he’d smile down at the puppy who would nibble playfully on his fingers or jump up to try and kiss his face, you could feel yourself having more and more of a crush on him and it was impossible to hide it. You refused to look at the two of them for a while, but then Joel would nudge you and you couldn’t help but stare and watch it unfold. You just sat there, eyes on the both of him, smiling dumbly until you were addressed and you’d try to recover but Joel was having that effect on you again. That one were you were making an idiot of yourself but it was ten times as bad now.

Gavin took every chance available to poke fun at you for your increasingly obvious crush on Joel, which you’d snap out of your stupor just long enough venomously deny it. But even the chatroom and Burnie were in on it, but luckily Joel seemed busy enough to not notice or care. The longer into the podcast it got, the more obvious it was that Renly needed to go for a walk, and desperately. He was getting antsy, pawing at Joel and whining quietly. Towards the end, Joel had to put him on the couch between the two of you because the whining was getting picked up in his mic and hurting ears.

When the podcast was finally over, you reached over and punched Gavin in the leg as hard as you could. He made a typical Gavin noise and gave you a reproachful look, and you just shook your head at him. Oh, the next time you got him alone, you’d beat the crap out of him.

“Who’s ready for walkies?” you cooed, turning around to scoop up Renly but frowned when you saw he wasn’t there. Joel had picked him up again and was now heading towards your desk with him. You followed after him, pulling off you mic and thrusting it into the hands of the nearest person.

“Joel!” you called, “I have to take him for a walk, you know. He won’t make it home otherwise.” As he reached your desk, Joel began poking around it with the hand that wasn’t holding the dog, obviously looking for something.

“I know,” Joel said as he continued to root through your stuff, “But I want to take him. You’re welcome to join us, though.” You crossed your arms and huffed, pretending to be upset that he had just commandeered your pet like that but inside, you were melting at the adorableness. He was really just getting too much for you to handle, but you decided to join them on the walk anyway. It really couldn’t get any worse than it just had been during the podcast. Even the fans had been poking fun at your stupid crush on Joel. You reached into your bottom desk drawer, pulling out the leash and harness you had for walks and held it out to Joel. He thanked you, and put Renly down on your chair and put him on the leash.

Renly led the way out into the quickly fading sunlight and you followed after Joel, trying to keep your eyes focused on the dog and not him. You were doing an alright job of not looking at him and as long as you did that, you probably couldn’t make a much bigger fool of yourself. There was a couple minutes of comfortable silence as the two of you walked the dog down the road, but when Renly stopped to sniff around a patch of grass, Joel cleared his throat and your eyes shot to him.

“(Y/N), can I ask you something?” You nodded up at Joel, biting the inside of your cheek, dreading where this was going to go.

“Are we okay?” he asked curiously. “You seemed pretty intent on not even looking at me or talking to me until I had your dog tonight. And then I felt like you kept your eye on me because you were afraid I was going to do something to him.” You groaned inwardly. Of course he had noticed that, you thought to yourself. You shook your head.

“We’re fine,” you answered quickly, forcing a smile onto your face. “It’s just you make me say stupid things sometimes, but it’s not your fault or anything, it’s me. I’m apparently still a thirteen year old girl,” you rambled on. “And I couldn’t stop looking at you because you looked so cute playing with Renly. Not that you don’t usually because you do and this made you extra attractive and I couldn’t help it. It’s like you want me to have more of a crush on you.” You stopped walking, shutting your eyes tightly. “Fuck,” you muttered under your breath. Way to go, you thought to yourself. Make things awkward.

You stood there with your eyes screwed shut for what felt like an eternity, waiting for Joel to say something or laugh at you or anything. But it never came. What did come was a pair of lips pushing themselves softly against yours. As they disappeared, your eyes fluttered open and you saw Joel’s face in front of you, peering back at you with somewhat of a bemused expression on his face.

“You know, you’re cute when you ramble,” he stated. You blushed and he opened his mouth to say something else but Renly barked his squeaky little bark and both of your attentions turned to him. He was pulling on his lead, obviously ready to move on.

“Come on, then. Looks like he wants more  _walkies_ ,” he said, winking at you and chuckling after he said walkies. You guessed he must have heard you while he was walking away and you laughed, shaking your head. He just kept getting cuter and cuter. Joel started walking, talking over his shoulder at you as you took a couple seconds before you began to follow.

“Now, what was this you were saying to Gavin about thinking about boning me all the time?” he teased and you scowled, but it quickly softened as you tried to laugh it off and stammered to try and explain what you were actually talking about

You were going to kill Gavin first chance you got. 


End file.
